Pennsylvania Birch Beer Recipe

How to make it

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• Measure 4 quarts of finely cut twigs of sweet birch into the bottom of a 5-gallon crock.
• In a large kettle, boil together the honey and birch sap for 10 minutes.
• Pour over chopped twigs.
• When cool, strain to remove the twigs.
• Return to the crock.
• Spread cake of soft yeast on the slice of toasted rye bread.
• Float on top of the beer in the crock.
• Cover with a cloth.
• Let ferment until the cloudiness just starts to settle, about a week but it depends somewhat on temperature.
• Bottle the beer and cap tightly.
• Store in a dark place and serve it cold after the weather gets hot.
• It should stand in the bottles about 3 months before using.
• If opened too soon, it will foam all over and pop worse than champagne.
• **This is not a drink for children (I always had it!).
• **Sweet Birch, also called Black Birch... Sweet birch or Cherry birch has a fragrant bark and twigs that smell of wintergreen. The sap flows about a month later than maple and much faster than maple. You tap the trees the same as maple but must gather about 3 times as often.
• **The sap also can be boiled the same as maple but the syrup is much stronger, more like molasses.